The Pylons -- Penn State

A look at the look at Iowa's Saturday night matchup with No. 5 Penn State.

1. Heroes don't cry

That's a Scorpions song from . . . I don't know. Whenever the Scorps were around.

Injuries have eaten a hole in this game, on both sides. Iowa will be missing OT Bryan Bulaga (undisclosed illness). TE Tony Moeaki (ankle) probably won't go. WR Derrell Johnson-Koulianos (hamstring) let out a favorable status update on Facebook late this week, so he might be a go. C Rafael Eubanks was hobbled after Arizona, but that was Monday. He might be fine.

Penn State OLB Sean Lee is "very doubtful" for Saturday night, PSU coach Joe Paterno said on his radio show Thursday night. Also, LB Nate Stupar sprained an ankle in practice this week and is questionable. LB Navorro Bowman will play, his first action since straining a groin in week 1 against Akron.

WR Graham Zug will also be full-go. He left the Temple game with a head injury but practiced all week.

2. Where should you point the binoculars (besides the TV)?

The bench -- Unfortunately, Iowa is stuck in a mode of who's in, who's out and next man in. Moeaki and Bulaga might be wearing the gray T-shirt with sweatpants. Actually, I think if players are hurt and aren't going to play, they don't make the road trip. As Ferentz said, we'll see.

The O-line -- Riley Reiff has held up filling in for Bulaga at left tackle. This week brings DEs Eric Lattimore (6-6, 270) and Jack Crawford (6-5, 256), a true sophomore. Crawford has 4.5 tackles for loss. Lattimore has 1.5 tackles for loss. If Reiff can hold down one edge, Stanzi's feet and eyes might point the same direction in the first half this week.

RB -- Both sides. Iowa freshman Adam Robinson was dinged last week against Arizona. He seemed fine on Tuesday. He made the play that basically broke the Wildcats, dashing 43 yards on a third-and-23 no-brainer handoff. It turned into a TD. True freshman Brandon Wegher was playing for Sioux City Heelan, an Iowa Class 3A school, last fall. That hasn't seemed to matter to him, though. No one tell him this is the "White Out" and there are 110,000 in the stands who want to see him fail. No one tell him that. On PSU's side, Evan Royster is billed as a star. He rolled over Temple last week, averaging 7.1 yards a carry en route to 134 yards on 19 carries and a TD. So far this season, he really hasn't been used much, going for 236 yards on just 35 carries (6.7 avg). The running backs in this game might have more carries in the first half than they've had all season.

WR -- PSU's are new. Iowa's are starting to "get it." And they are healthy for the first time in their collective careers.

Colin Sandeman, a junior from Bettendorf, came out of nowhere and led the Hawkeyes with five receptions for 47 yards last week. The “out of nowhere” part comes because Sandeman missed nearly all of training camp with a hamstring injury.

“He was definitely on the milk cartons,” Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said. “We definitely hadn't seen him for quite some time. Hopefully he's getting back in shape a little bit. It was good to see him step up and make some plays.”

Also, going into last week, Sandeman had a grand total of 10 receptions in his career. He had six all of last season.

“We have a lot of depth,” said senior wideout Trey Stross, who caught four passes for 37 yards last week. “Getting Colin back is just adding another bullet.”

Iowa's top four receivers going into Penn State are Sandeman, Stross, McNutt and Paul Chaney Jr. All are in some sort of career rehabilitation.

Stross lost huge chunks of the last couple seasons with hamstring problems. Three games in, he leads Iowa with 11 receptions for 167 yards. He's just five off his season-best of 16 as a sophomore in 2007.

McNutt made the switch from quarterback early last season and caught one pass. He has eight receptions for 121 yards this year.

After catching 19 passes as a freshman, Chaney caught just two last year. He's caught five passes for 38 yards and has rushed four times for 44 so far.

Freshman Keenan Davis is probably No. 6 if or when Johnson-Koulianos returns tonight. Davis didn't see action against Arizona, but he caught two passes for 21 yards and a TD against Iowa State.

Johnson-Koulianos, who has four grabs for 61 yards and a TD, was on track to return from the hamstring injury that's slowed him throughout the fall, Ferentz said. Depth cushioned losing DJK last week, but it'd be easier with the player who has led the Hawkeyes in receiving the last two seasons.

“We have some other guys stepping up,” Ferentz said, “but, I'd be more than happy to get Derrell back out there. We're better with Derrell, I know that.”

3. Who's number _?

Senior DT Jared Odrick (91) has been a man-horse so far this season. He has 12 tackles from the 1 technique with 3.5 tackles for loss and two sacks. That's impressive production for a nose tackle. He had a field day against the Hawkeyes last year, against a better inside trio than will be on the field Saturday night. Last year, he had seven tackles, two sacks and a forced fumble. He has a bit of a bummed left arm, but he obviously is a player who rises to the challenge.

LB Novorro Bowman (11) is the type of player who leads defenses to national championships. The 6-1, 232-pounder has been slowed by a groin injury, but should be full go tonight. He had 16.5 tackles for loss from the linebacker spot last year. That's an LB who's running into things at the line of scrimmage. He might be the exact boost the PSU defense needs with the apparent loss of Lee.

Sophomore DE Jack Crawford (81) is PSU's best rush end. The Nits have 10 sacks this season, which leads the Big Ten. Iowa has allowed eight, last in the Big Ten. This is where there could be trouble, and, yes, you do have to consider the competition PSU has faced so far this year.

PSU QB Daryll Clark (17) might be the most talented player on the field, or not. Iowa should be able to put pressure and land hits on the 6-2, 232-pounder. PSU's OL returned only two starters and neither of those, C Stefen Wisniewski (61) and LT Dennis Landholt (73), are playing the same position they did last year. There is flux here, but the Iowa D-line that showed up last week vs. Arizona needs to punch in again this week. This game could go to Clark's arm, which has been a consistent for PSU's O this season. Running the ball will be a major coup for either offense.

WR Graham Zug (5) is Clark's main target. He had 11 catches this season before leaving early last week. WR Derek Moye (6) leads the Lions with 13 receptions. He was Clark's go-to in the opener vs. Akron, catching six passes for 138 yards and a score.

4. OC Ken O'Keefe is talking "at" Stanzi if . . .

Stanzi stumbles out of the gate, again. I don't know how many times I've brought up here that Stanzi's second halves have been darn good. Kirk Ferentz this week said glowing things about the junior in the face of the "first half" question. And really, if you want to look at it this way, Stanzi is 11-3 as a starter, if you count ISU '08 when he started and Jake Christensen finished.

But . . .

Stanzi has to be somewhat sharp. We can extrapolate from there. The passing game has be to sharper than it's been in the first half of Iowa's first three games. Obviously, Iowa can't afford turnovers, not in front of Zombie Nation and "Kernkraft 400." But, maybe more importantly, Iowa can't afford missed opportunities. Field goals have to be TDs. Can't have near misses on third down.

Will Iowa be able to run the ball? The game on paper says no. This puts an awful lot on Stanzi, especially in the first quarter. Stanzi said earlier this week the first half is a feeling out process. "Feeling out" is one thing against Arizona. It's quite another vs. Beaver Stadium.

Stanzi doesn' t have to be perfect. He does have to be less erratic.